Bearing Burdens
by 14AmyChan
Summary: Something cruel was said to Noll which sent him back to Japan. Can anyone help him out of this rut of self-descrimination?


**_14AmyChan: this is just random oone shot stuff. I don't think Naru can just go back to England and not be compared to his brother. It just takes one person and one well-worded ill-intended remark to have poor Noll go on a spiraling decention into self-loating._**

**_Naru: that is cruel_**

**_14AmyChan: it's the premise for this one shot._**

**_Mai: what did that person say to him?_**

**_14AmyChan: "In a fair world, Oliver would have died and we would still have Gene..."_**

**_Naru: this mentality is why I am grateful you don't own Ghost Hunt._**

_When you love someone, it is far more painful to watch them attempt their burden alone. That is why I cannot leave you be right now. Not now, when you're hurting the most._

Mai walked into the office and shrugged out of her winter coat. It had been four months since SPR's boss and his guardian had up and left for England, but by no means did that indicate the dissolution of the team. No, rather, the group had kept the office up for their boss's return and even took on cases. Naturally, they were harder to solve without his mind, but they still solved them with minimal injury.

Mai chuckled as she noted the fact that she had bygone her desk again and was habitually making tea. For the first two weeks, she had always made too much. Now she was simply in the habit of making tea for herself before getting to work.

The bell rang and Mai added more water to the kettle.

_Strange_... she mused. _I didn't hear about any clients coming this early._

Mai listened for a moment longer before hearing a door close at a normal volume. She whirled around. There was no way-!

The kettle shrieked for her attention and Mai gave it, rapidly preparing tea with surprisingly stable hands. She made it the exact way he would like it. Honey, no sugar. It was a taste Mai had also come to love over the months. It reminded her of him. She had, after all, decided that she loved him. Even with all his narcissism.

Before she could plot a course of action, she was in front of the door. His door. The door to his lair. On autopilot, she opened the door without knocking.

There he was. He was still dressed in black, she noted. Yet he did not even look at her when she opened the door. Instead, he was focusing intently on something in his hand. Mai fought the urge to say something and quietly walked to his desk. She placed his tea in front of him.

Not a word.

His face was drawn and tight. Mai could not see his eyes, though she could see the rest of his expression, and it scared her. He was frowning-not unusual-though his face sported the tell-tale signs of tears. He had been crying. For how long, she would not guess, but he had been. Mai debated leaving for the sake of his pride. One more split-second of looking at his face squashed that thought.

_Pride or not, he's gonna need someone to be there for him._ Mai thought stubbornly as she looked around. She found what she was looking sitting in front of his desk. Gingerly, she took a seat in front of him, waiting for him to say something. An insult. Something!

Moments passed. Minutes passed. Thirty-six of them, to be exact.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Naru asked, his voice obviously dead to the world. No condescending tone. No belittlement. No scoff, scorn, or even surprise. Just... dead. It scared her.

"I need your help," she responded, as though that were her whole reason for waiting for him. Naru did not raise his head, nor look her in the eye. They waited like that for three more minutes.

"If you're not going to ask, then get out," he stated, though there was no bite to his words. He sounded so dead, and it was breaking Mai's heart. Still, she refused to leave.

"A friend of mine is acting oddly," she stated blatantly. She received no response, but this time, she continued, regardless of the lack of interaction. "I'm worried, but they wouldn't want me to. They would probably think I'm stupid for it."

"Then why are you worried?" Naru asked, as though not worrying was the answer. Mai took a deep breath.

"Because they're my friend, and they're going though a hard time. They can't be strong forever, so I want to do something that will make it easier when they can't keep it up anymore..."

"That's surprisingly harsh of you," he commented dryly. Though Mai could hear a slight crack in his voice. She chose to ignore it. He did not need to know that she knew he was at his limit.

"No human can stay strong forever, that's why we need to let it out sometimes," Mai said, her voice gentle. She took another sip of tea in an attempt to soothe her nerves. It may have hurt her to see Naru like this, so dead and lifeless, but it would have been excruciating if she left him to fend for himself. She had to help in any way she could.

"You should know your friend well enough to know how to cheer them up," Naru stated blandly. Still no emotion. Mai felt her own tea. It had gone cold.

_Maybe I can heat it up... _she thought. She reached for the tea.

"Leave it," he said. That unprovoked sentence stopped her in her tracks. She stood up to leave, thinking that all he may have wanted was some time alone. She stood in front of the door, wondering if there was anything she could say. There was only one that she could think of.

"Naru?" she asked, not expecting an answer. She continued when she did not receive one.

"We all missed you. Welcome back." As she shut the door, a mere breath of the wind caught her ear. It would have been nice to pretend it was Naru who had said it, but she knew it was probably her imagination.

"Thank you," he had said.

_**14AmyChan: Wherever you have people who will miss you, you will have a home.**_

_**Naru: What about my parents and Lin?**_

_**14AmyChan: well, in this story you kind of ran off, so Lin had to find and track you down. Meanwhile, your parents fired the arrogant sonuvagun who insulted you and got a vacationing house in Japan after seeing that you were happy there.**_

_**Mai: again, a disclaimer. This is just a one shot.**_

_**14AmyChan: that being said, thanks for reading and do please leave a review!**_


End file.
